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PUGET SOUND IN COPPER A copper plate, from which one of the earliest Puget Sound charts were printed was presented by Rear Admiral H. Arnold Karo, Director of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, to the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society for exhibition in the Museum of History and Industry. L-R: Admiral Karo, Ralph Hitchcock, Capt. Frank Johnson and Robert G. Zener. Click image to enlarge. Original photo dated 14 Feb. 1957 From the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society© |
A copper-plate engraving, from which one of the earliest navigation charts of Puget Sound was printed, was made available for exhibition in the proposed marine wing of the Museum of History and History.
The chart was dated November 1867. The copper plate itself is a relic of an art of years gone by.
The first copper-plate engraving of an American nautical chart was prepared in 1844 for a chart of New York Harbor. Such engravings were standard until after WW I, when they gave way to glass negative engraving and photolithography.
The Puget Sound engraving was turned over to the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society as a permanent loan from the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
It was presented 14 February 1957 by Rear Admiral H. Arnol Karo, director of the CGS, to Ralph Hitchcock, president of the PSMHS.
Robert Zener represented the Seattle Historical Society at the presentation in the office of Capt. Frank Johnson, Northwest supervisor of the Coast Survey.
Hitchcock said the copper plate will be kept in the Maritime Historical Society's custody until it can be put on display in the museum.
More than half of the $100,000 needed to construct the museum's marine wing has been pledged, Hitchcock said.
Source of text: The Seattle Times. 14 February 1957